Never the Monster
by NessaEstel
Summary: Forced to form a tenuous bond with Snape upon Dumbledore's orders, Hermione has to let the snarky man train her in order to save her very life.Voldemort wants her in order to win the war. But she's coming to find out who's really the monster
1. Chapter 1

Never the Monster

Disclaimer: the characters belong to JK Rowling, I just borrowed them for my plot.

The grandfather clock chimed the third hour of the morning. Hermione Granger stirred restlessly in her bed, counting out each toll of the bell in the barest of breaths.

"One,...two,...three!"

Before the final 'dong' finished sounding, she was out of her tangled sheets like lightening -- wand at the ready.

_This is it, _she thought

Stealthily, Hermione crept from her room, bare feet silently carrying her lithe frame towards her parents bedroom. Just as she reached the doorway,she felt the protective wards arround her home fall. A tremor of fear tickled at her spine but she quickly suppressed it. She had to protect her mother and father, it was what she'd trained for; taking private lessons with the potions master, upon Dumbledore's request.

Voldemort's followers had orders to capture her and bring her before their master at all costs. It had been commanded that Snape should be the one to aprehend her, no one, man nor woman was to touch her other than the double spy.

Hermione's goal was to get to safety at the Burrow before the Death Eaters made it into her house. A loud explosion echoed trhough out the house from the downstairs entrance hall. Hermione cursed violently, she was too late. They had come for her.

"Hermione, dear what's going on?" The paniced voice of her mother snapped the young witch back to into the room, she shoved her mother back inside and barricaded the door behind them. Hermione glanced over to see her father rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Jane Granger went to stand beside her husband, worrying her lip in a frightened confusion.

"We need to get you out of here, Now!" Hermione told them,not giving them any chance to ask any questions before she began throwing things into bags. In quick timing, the Granger's daughter had both of her parents dressed, luggage packed and resting in nervous hands. She was just about to hand over the portkey that the Headmaster had given her in order to transport her parents to the Weasley home and safety-- she neearly had it within her father's grasp, when she felt someone grab her from behind.

As if in slow motion, she slowly watched the shear terror forming on her parents faces, before she even had time to fully register her mother's scream.

*_FLASHBACK*_

_She hesitated in striking him in the throat, and he snatched her arms up in a briusing grip. Severus shook her roughly in his frustration._

_"Never forget that they expect me to kill you! that is why you must strike, Damnit! You must never hesitate, or it will be your death!" Hermione stood there, staring in wide-eyed shock, for the first time she was speechlesss. She didn't understand how to respond to her professor's feriousity._

_"Why can't you understand?! When I don that horrid mask and those gods-forsaken robes, , I am no longer your friend. I am your foe, and I cannot protect you from the demons when I must become the monster!" Snape reprinmanded her._

_Hermione bit her lip to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. "I know, sir. I'm sorry." she apologized, "It's just not in my nature to knowingly hurt someone that I trust."_

_Obsidian eyes narrowed to pinpoints at her statement. "You foolish child!" Snape growled to cover the sigh that wanted to slip past his lips. "There are going to be times where you must go against every instinct of your very nature, and do what needs to be done, in order to save your own life. I don't care what you have to do to keep fighting! Kill me if you have to in order to make it convincing enough, but never I repeat never, stop fighting! Do I make myself clear?"_

_The man sighs inwardly when he takes notice of how hard she's chewing her lip. If she doesn't stop soon she's going to draw blood. Hermione's startled into nodding when that metalic taste fills her mouth. "I understand, sir." she whispers. _

_He watches her warrily for a moment before nodding jerkily. "Good." he snaps, "Now fight!" And once more they attack each other with a vengence._

_*END FLASHBACK*_

Hermione brought her elbow back to slam into her assailant's throat. Her motions knock the heavily engraved mask from their face as they gasp for air. Throwing the portkeyed hairtie that she always kept for emergencies (such as this) off her wrist-- she breifly had a second to watch her mother vanish, before she spun back around, to come face to face with Lucious Malfoy. Before he had time to regain his composure, Hermione slashed her wand in a defensive movement, stunning the arrogant Pureblood. He hit the floor face first, down for the count.

Hermione didn't even look back as she escaped from the room, past the unconcious man-- if she were to have, she would have noticed the cowering form of Mister Granger in the corner of the room.

Downstairs, the house was in shambles. Everything was turned over, or thrown about the room. There had to be at least five Death Eaters in her house, counting the unconcious Malfoy still in her parents bedroom. From her spot at the banister railing, Hermione could see everything going on in the living 'd destroyed everything. Anger at their disregard for her family and the way they'd violated her home burned in the young woman's chest.

She had to act, and she had to do it now. She couldn't stand by and stomach the destructuion that Slimy Snake's minions had wrought ant longer. In a move that Snape would later attribute to her "Insufferable Gryffindor stupidity!", Hermione found the voice to yell down to the dark witches and wizards below, "Hey!" Simultaniously, four pairs of eyes turned to stare up at the little loiness.

Behind the orrnately carved mask of one man, hard, black eyes glared , the professor had told the girl to bring some attention to herself, to play things up a bit-- he never thought that she'd aactually give them the advantge on purpose! He was going to strangle her!

If his gaze weren't so fixed upon her, there would have been no notice as to how her body tensed, like it was going to spring any moment. _Sweet Merlin! She's not actually going to..._ but before he could even finish his thought, Hermione vaulted her body over the banister. She landed on the main floor in a predetory crouch. _Right in the middle of the damned Snake Pit!_ Severus cursed silently.

Distracted by Hermione's acrobatic stunt, the less experienced Death Eaters stood there, awestruck, before they reacted. Hermione's reaction time was faster, and she managed to hex two before she felt her professor behind her.

It was his scent that gave him away. Musk, and varying smells of cinnamon, rosemary, and sage filled her nostrils, and still, know his identity, she summoned the blade he kept hidden at his back-- just like he'd trained her to do.

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

Never the Monster

Disclaimer: the characters belong to JK Rowling, I just borrowed them for my plot.

Previously in chapter 1: _"It was his scent that gave hime away. Musk and varying smells of cinnamon, rosemary and sage filled her nostrils,and still, knowing his identity, she summoned the blade he kept hiddedn at his back-- just like he'd trained her to do._

Chapter 2

*FLASHBACK*

"Legillimens." Hermione fought the reflex to shove the invasive Potions Master from her mind and trhow up the defensive walls he'd taught her to use against the Dark Lord.

"Stop fidgeting." Snape's sharp voice echoed in her head. Mentally, she rolled her eyes and grumbled in annoyance.

"Why are we doing this again?" Hermione thought, hoping that it wasn't too loud. (She'd gotten a thorough lecture on how to control the volume of her mental "voice" after their first lesson.

"When you scream inside of your head, it's as if you are screaming aloud. Granger!" Hermione had walked out of his office twenty minutes later, red-faced with shame and feeling every bit the insolent child he proclaimed her to be.)

"Granger..." the sinlge word was a warning in itslef, but the young woman insisted on pushing his buttons a little further.

"Professor..." Hermione drawled out in immitation. "I'm serious though, I really don't know that I want you sifting through my head at your pleasure, until it's absolutely necessary. It's quite unsettling."

A brow rose in irritation, "Everything that I am being forced to teach you, Ms. Granger, is of the utmost necessity. Once a mental bond has been established between two people, assenting or otherwise, it must be frequently put to use in order to insure that it remains strong."

*END FLASHBACK*

The weight of the knife in her hand made the strange situation that Hermione found herself in all the more real. It terrified her.

There wasn't time to think about the road she'd had to take in order to reach this very moment, for it was hardly the culmiation of such a long journey. Her heart was racing, she didn't want to do this, but she had to. She wasn't allowed to hesitate.

The fabric of Snape's robes brushed lightly against the skin of her arm that he tried to grab. She turned out of his reach before contact was made, the hard leather of his dragon-hide boot felt cool, yet abrasive against her naked toes as she completed her about face, stepping on his foot. Hermione's eyes were big as saucers when they fianlly locked gazes and that crucial link betwen their two minds took hold. "Must you look at me like a frightened owl, Granger?" the man's voice sounded in her head.

They continued to step around one another in some sort of obscure dance. "Make it real, right Professor?" she asked suddenly through their bond. Before Snape could take the two steps that separated them, Hermione struck. "Forgive me, sir."

His breath caught in his throat with the feeling of his own weapon sliding between his ribs-- he prayed that she hadn't puntured a lung.

All of this played out before any of the fledgling Death Eaters even blinked. One second, they were surprised to see the muggle born land in the middle of all the mayhem they'd caused. The next thing they know, one of their own had been hit and was falling to his knees, even as they watched. It took a few seconds for them to respond to all of it but soon the hexes and curses began to fly.

Hermione put all of her effort into not getting hit by one of the violent sparks shooting her way. The Death Eater closest to the fireplace recieved a bulls-eye hit fron her wand, in the dead center of his chest. Hermione's opponent flew back full force,their head making a grotesque cracking when it got a little too friendly with the granite mantle. Blood trickled down the side of the Death Eaater's face, and by the glazed expression in their eyes, Hermione knew them to be dead.

Snape fought past the pain blooming in his stomach,and the blood that soaked through his clothing in a crimson, sticky mess. With one down, there were still two more of Voldemort's followers in this room to meet their maker-- not to mention Lucius as well, who was another matter all together to be dealt with. Just thinking of him made Snape grimace.

Noticing that Hermione had engaged in a fierce duel with one wizard, he quickly took the opportunity to dispatch the other, before they got the idea to go and help their friend. When their lifeless body hit the floor, Snape fealt it safe to rise to his feet once more, and see just what Ms. Granger had gotten herself into with her current sparring partner.

The Death Eater fought clumsily, with no reall finess to their movements to speak of. Hermione held her own quite well, considering all of the training that they had slaved over for months. "Damn, Albus." he thought, and he could hear Hermione chuckle coldly in his head before she added, "Yes Professor, I know, "He always gets what he wants, the coniving old fool.'"

"Stop reading my thoughts, Granger!" he grew irritable when he heard her laugh mentally, as she took down her opponent, and stepped back from their body in respect as the life left them.

She looked over her shoulder at him and shrugged. "It's hard, sir, when they're inside of my head too." Her eyes wandered around her home, not really taking anything in for the numbness setting in.

"You can bind my hands and feet now, Professor."Hermione said in monotone. She refused to meet his gaze as the cords wrapped around her limbs-- he was already inside of her head, he knew everything that she was feeling in that moment, even if she didn't want him to know.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably from her newly seated position on the disaterous floor. Her side twinged with her movements, she looked down noticing that there were singe marks on her tank top, and blood staining the blue fabric. "Odd," she whispered, "I didn't realize."

Snape, who was busy cleaning off the blade he'd retrieved from his side, looked up from his task to stare over at her. Another voice interrupted him before he had the chance to ask aloud exactly what she hadn't realized. "Well, well, you are atricky little mudblood to properly kidnap, aren't you?" Lucius' icey words startled them into looking over in his direction with jerky movements.

There the Pureblood stood in all his arrogance at the foot of the staircase. His normally regal robes were slightly rumpled, and just below his hairline, a nice shiner of a goose egg had fromed on his forehead from the Stupefy Hermione had stunned him with earlier.

"Our master's going to have fun with you, Granger. Won't he, Severus?"

TBC...

A/N: Sorry for another cliff hanger, but I had to end this chapter somewhere, otherwise I'll spend the rest of the day writing FOREVER! And really, I'd love to but I can't (at least not tonight) I have to get back ot my research paper for school. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. And if you ever have any sugestions, give me some feedback every now and again. I'd love to know what you think so far.

Thanks again.

N*


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